“Perfect.” She giggled, kissing my check as she stole a piece of bacon. “This looks good! Make me one too!”
Again I paused and then looked down at her. “Society has progressed just far enough that I am now making my own sandwiches without bothering my wife. Don’t push it.”
“Fine, let me starve.” She had the nerve to say as she ate one of the tortillas by itself.
“I’m sure you’ll make it, somehow.”
Reaching me, she grabbed a slice of tomato, holding it over her mouth and saying, “You married your first love. You should be more loving, don’t you think?”
I bit the side of my jaw in order to keep my mouth shut as she ate. Rolling the tortilla, I grabbed the knife and slammed it down in the middle, placing one in a baggy for me and the other for her.
“Thank you!” She smiled, opening her massive purse—at this point it was like a backpack—to put both of our food inside.
“What ar
e you doing—”
“You can’t hold the snacks when you go. You look uncool. You have to pull it out when the good part begins and then enjoy it,” she instructed, moving to grab some juice boxes, yes, juice boxes, because yes, she wanted them. When I told her it made more sense to buy the jug of juice she told me ‘when did rich people start warning about buying logically?’
“Do you need anything else?” she asked meanwhile she’d eaten 90 percent of it.
“Let’s just go,” I told her, wiping my hands.
“Napkins!” She snapped her fingers. Done arranging the napkins inside, she wrapped her arm around mine and followed me to the door.
“Do you have everything?” I asked.
“Yes, dad.” She groaned.
Rolling my eyes, I opened the door, stepping out first, and just like on the first night we’d arrived the street was crawling with people. Only a couple of the houses now had light…the electrical bills had gone up almost every year, but since my family knew how much people loved being here, we covered the cost and let them pay what they thought was fair price.
“They all notice us now,” Ivy whispered as we walked past the gates onto the street. When we did people moved, most out of fear, others just not wanting to be too close to us. It was of course a short walk, but it told a lot about how everyone was feeling tonight. Arriving once again in the backyard of the Finnegan brothers, where most of the neighborhood was once again, this time not drunk, nor nearly as cheerful as they were almost a month ago, I smirked when Cillian glanced over his shoulder, when the men around him all looked away from him.
“Nice suit.” I nodded at the black suit, shirt, and tie he wore.
“I knew you wouldn’t miss the chance,” he said emotionlessly.
“Of course, it’s a neighborhood meeting and we’re part of the neighborhood.” I bloody owned the neighborhood as it was anyway.
“About that…” His glare shifted onto Ivy, who was scanning the crowd carefully. “How much longer until you finish your business here, Ivy, and return to Chicago?”
Still not looking at him, she said, “The good thing about it being my business is that it’s my business and as such you can go fuck yourself.”
“Careful, cousin.” He stepped into her line of vision. “You forget whose house you’re in.”
She ignored him and turned to me. “Why did you say he had a nice suit? It looks like he stole it out of the morgue.” She then turned to him and asked, “Did you steal it from the morgue?”
“Would you like to go to the morgue and find out, bitch?” Elroy asked, pulling out a switch blade. He had a hockey mask that he held through the eye sockets with his knuckle gloves.
“Mr. and Mrs. Callahan,” Cillian cut in before I could, “let’s not waste any more time.”
“Of course,” I replied, walking over to the picnic bench. The teenagers there didn’t move. They even made a point to relax more. Looking away from them and above their heads at the trees, I really wondered why it was that people felt the need to test me. “Will you make them get up or will I have to?”
“Ask nicely like everyone else,” Cillian replied.
At that I shifted my eyes from the leaves to him. “I don’t get nicer than this.”
“How sad for you then.” He snickered. “You can stand in the back or leave.”